What A Way to End
by HueyFree12
Summary: Post-ep:Zebras What all happened after Stuckey got knocked out in Zebras.


**What A Way to End**

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I always thought that Ryan and Olivia would be a cute couple, and this proves me right. Hope you enjoy it!

_"What a way to end." _Detective Elliot Stabler said dejectedly. Elliot Stabler had just been saved by his partner, Detective Olivia Benson. The perpetrator, Dale Stuckey, lie unconscious on the floor and a bruise was forming where Olivia had performed a signature move, elbowing Stuckey right in his jaw.

_I can't believe I kissed that S.O.B. No amount of Listerine could get rid of this putrid taste. O'Halloran's gonna flip when-"_Oh shit! O'Halloran!"

Olivia broke from her reverie as she glanced at O'Halloran's limp legs on the linoleum floor. Olivia dropped to his side, with Elliot hot on her heels.

"Call a bus, El!" demanded Olivia.

"Liv…O'Halloran's gone. There's no point in-" Elliot began but was cut off by a stern look from Olivia's dark eyes that were on the brink of tears.

"El, Call. A. Bus. Now!" She turned away from her partner and proceeded to care for O'Halloran as Elliot made the call. Olivia's hands were shaking as her hands were hovering above O'Halloran's body; all she was doing was staring down the knife protruding from his stomach. When she finally regained her composure; she clasped her fore finger and middle finger to O'Halloran's neck. _No pulse. Dammit! _Olivia shot up and kicked over a stool in affliction, before doubling over in a corner and breaking into tears.

Elliot was astonished to say the least. He was dumbfounded that his partner, his tough as nails, can't-be-fazed partner, who hadn't even shed a tear when her own mother had died, was curled into a little ball like a child scared of monsters under their bed. He went to her side and pulled her into a comforting hug into his arms.

"O'Halloran didn't deserve this. He was a good guy. Never broke, bended, or twisted any of the rules. He, out of everybody we work with, should've had been the safest. We were dating you know. For about a year."

Elliot just stared at his partner. Sure, she kept some pretty big secrets, but this one takes the cake. I mean, O'Halloran was a good guy, and as much as Elliot hated to admit, he was handsome, but him and Olivia? He couldn't imagine. Something told Elliot that this story was far from over the way Olivia had situated herself into a more comfortable position.

"It all started after…after…" Olivia took in an immense breath, bracing herself for the eerie mixture of a euphoric reverie and a ghastly nightmare that telling the story of how she and Ryan came to be.

"It all started after Sealview. It was when I had stayed back late, you came and asked what had happened in the basement, and when I didn't answer, you left. I-I-I just fell apart. Everything was coming back to me too fast and I couldn't take it anymore." She threw her face into her hands and sobbed. "I ran up to the cribs and started to cry my eyes out. I don't know how long I was up there, or how loud I was crying. After I cried my eyes out, I felt a hand on my shoulder."

She slowly picked her head up and gazed at Elliot. "It was Ryan. He didn't ask why I was crying or what was wrong, he just…held me…he held me and didn't let go. We must've sat there for hours. After a while, he asked me if I was okay. I just said I didn't know. I wasn't sure of anything anymore. I didn't know who I could trust, who I could believe." Olivia sat up from her previous position in Elliot's arms to walking over to O'Halloran's limp body.

"He made me feel safe again, like, I could learn how to be happy again." She dropped to her knees and rested her head on his stiff chest, allowing herself to resume her relentless sobbing. Suddenly, the once lifeless body sputtered and spewed dribbles and bubbles of blood, which eventually turned into violent coughs. Olivia shot her head up in amazement and Elliot, repeating earlier events, was right by Olivia's side as she cradled O'Halloran in her arms.

"Ryan, can you hear me?" Ryan O'Halloran's eyes slowly fluttered open as he strangely ogled Olivia.

"I….I….I always lov…loved it….when you…tell…that…that…that story." slurred Ryan, but not too soon after, Ryan's eyes were closed and he was dead weight once again.

"Ryan, baby, you gotta stay with me okay? You can't close your eyes ever again, okay? Ryan, sweetie? RYAN?!"

Receiving no response, she panicked and did the only thing she could in that moment; she slapped the shit out of him.

After his head returned to its original state, his eyes shot wide open, he was looking everywhere around him, eyes shifting from one corner of the room to the next. When his eyes finally fixated on Olivia, his eyes asked the question, _"What the hell was that for?!" _Olivia whipped around and faced her partner and ordered him to call a bus, since he had failed to do so before, then returned her attention back to her life, her lover, her boyfriend, her everything. She caressed his face soothingly and assured him, "Don't worry, baby. Everything's going to be alright. We're going to get you to a hospital in no time." She was desperately trying to hold back tears, but to no avail when one of her salty tears descended on Ryan's face.

"Sweetie, just….just in case….in case I don't…make it-" Olivia cut him off with a long index finger placed on O'Halloran's lips. The lips she loved to kiss at night, in the morning, and if she was feeling naughty, during work hours when she needed a little comfort.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence. Read my lips: You. Are. Going. To. Be. Fine. Just hold on for a few more minutes." Surprisingly, O'Halloran had enough strength to lift Olivia's finger from his own mouth and say, "Baby, please let me finish. I know….I may not have…a lot of…a lot of time…so…just let…let me say…I love you with…with all of my heart. Olivia Nicole Benson, you…make me…feel like a brand new…man. You…were a…breath of…fresh air. Look in…my left…breast pocket." Olivia dug around in Ryan's pocket and fished out a little maroon, velvet box. She let out a small gasp, half-expecting this to happened and half-shcoked to death. She popped it opened and sure enough, there was a 7 karat gold ring, just perched on top of the little bump of soft, black, silky material lined inside the box.

"Oh my god, Ryan." was all Olivia could manage.

"Olivia, would…would you marry me?" Ryan stuttered.

"Of course baby, of course I'll marry you!" she gripped O'Halloran in a tight hug and didn't let go until she felt his body become dead weight again.

"Ryan! Elliot, where the hell is that bus?" was the last thing Ryan heard before he blacked out.

* * *

"Hey sweetie, how are ya feeling? Better I hope." questioned a concerned fiancé.

The light in Ryan's face was practically blinding. He woke up in a hospital room at Mercy General Hospital. He turned his head and saw Olivia sitting by his side. He glanced over to her left hand and saw a slight glimmer and everything started flowing examined his body. He was sitting there shirtless, and his waist and legs were draped in the conventional white hospital bed sheet, and the only thing covering his body was a huge gauze and bandage across his abdomen. It had a stain about the size of a pre-pubescent's fist on it, but other than that, he had no real complaints, except for one; he wasn't holding the woman of his dreams.

"Yeah baby, just fine. Come here, I want to show you something." Olivia, being the curious cat that she was leaned in closer over the hospital bed railing to assist her boyfriend-excuse me-_fiancé_ in any way she can. Little did she know there was only one thing he wanted, and he got it.

Ryan griped her soft cheeks in his hands and pulled her in for the most passionate, most meaningful, and most heated kiss they ever shared. After possibly the longest 2 and a half minutes either of them ever experienced, Olivia had to let go of the intimate contact. Ryan gave his fiancé a look of bewilderment.

"Why'd you stop?" he questioned.

"Sorry baby, Doc said no sexual activity for at least a month."

"Fuuuuccck!", exclaimed Ryan as he threw his head back in exasperation. This caused Olivia to abrupt with laughter. Olivia was happy to know that she was the woman that got Ryan to let go and show off his true feelings-a guy whose curses when he's mad, likes to crack few jokes once in a while, and probably the most important of them all, isn't afraid to show off his sexy side around his woman.

"What I am supposed do to for a whole month?" perplexed Ryan. Olivia slowly crept up next to him in bed and began to straddle him. He instantly began to harden not being able to resist his new fiancé's current position.

"Well, I can think of something _we _can do together. Maybe if you're up to it," she seductively whispered as her tongue grazed her pearly whites, "We could do something involving-". Before she could finish her thought, a light rapping began at the opposite side of the hospital room. Olivia quickly scrambled off of Ryan's lap and situated her hair and clothes before reaching for the knob. It was Elliot, Munch, and Fin.

"Hey guys, come on in."

"Thanks. Hey there O'Halloran. How ya' feeling, man?" asked Fin.

"I was feeling great at first, but now I feel like crap." He said with a subtle glance at Olivia, that fortunately went unnoticed by the gang.

"Yeah, I heard a knife in the gut could do that to you." quipped Munch.

"Me and Fin were going to grab some beer at Meloni's, you in Liv?"

"Ah, no I was going to head back home for a little bit. You know, brush my teeth with bleach. Maybe scrub my tongue raw. Anything to get the taste of Stuckey out of my mouth." This caused laughter form everyone in the room. The whole team, and a select few outside the group, knew the lengths Olivia had to go to save Elliot from becoming sushi, pun intended.

"Alright, well, if you change your mind anytime soon, you know where to find us." After Fin and Munch left, Elliot could easily feel the tension in the room. And after remembering what his partner had disclosed to him earlier, he understood that they would want to be alone.

"Well, I hope you feel better soon Ryan. I got some chores to do at home." Olivia and Elliot's eyes instantly interlocked. He gave her a smirk and left as she silently mouthed 'thank you'. After he was gone, Olivia turned back around towards Ryan.

"What was that about?"

"Elliot never does chores at home." Ryan let a wicked grin cross his face as his fiancé returned to her sexy position once again.

"Now, what were you saying before?"

"Oh yeah. Ever hear of this little thing called _self-service_?" Olivia asked, joking around. Ryan couldn't help himself and pulled Olivia in for another mind-blowing kiss, which actually caught Olivia .

"God damn, I love you." stated Ryan. "I mean that with all my heart."

"I love you too, baby." replied Olivia. She meant it with all her heart.


End file.
